Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

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Henrietta Lacks was a young African American woman whose cervical cells were stolen from her and used in scientific research without her or her family’s knowledge. A woman looking for cancer treatment turned into one of the most important tools in medicine for years to come after her death. The story of her and her family is nothing short of heartbreaking but also amazing. It covers not only ethics in medicine, but also shows the inherent and blatant racism of the medical community before the end of Jim Crow laws. Even modern-day African Americans, especially women, have a difficult time getting healthcare. However, Henrietta’s story puts it into an entirely different perspective. Henrietta was born Loretta Plesant in August 1920 in Roanoke, Virginia, to …show more content…
No relative would take all ten children, so Johnny split them up between aunts, cousins, and grandparents. Henrietta ended up with her grandfather, Tommy Lacks. They would live in a small cabin that once served as a slave quarter, which they called “home-house.” Henrietta lived in “home-house” with her grandfather and cousin David Lacks, whom the family called Day. Henrietta, Day, and a few cousins would work on their grandfather’s farm from sunrise to sunset. To think that her childhood had already been disrupted significantly at the age of 14, she got pregnant with her first child, Lawrence, by no other than David “Day” Lacks. They had their second child, Elise, four years later, in 1939, and married in 1941. The following year, during WW2, Henrietta and Day moved their children to Baltimore, Maryland. After reading the first few chapters of the book, put into perspective what Henrietta’s life was like before developing cancer. Like most people, there was no way of knowing that something like this was going to happen to her; she seemed to be a healthy child despite what her living circumstances may have

Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a very intriguing story. The story follows the Lacks family as they deal with the main character, Henrietta Lacks’ battle with cervical cancer and the aftermath of her death. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks begins in 1951, a time where racism and segregation still existed. The Lacks were poor and medical care was reserved for issues where they had no other choice but to see a doctor. In the opening Henrietta visits Johns Hopkins Hospital complaining…

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Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

from it, and never gave you credit? In Rebecca Skloot’s biography, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, we see the story of Henrietta Lacks, the woman behind the revolutionary HeLa cell. The story of Henrietta Lacks is one that is rather unknown, but the effect her cells had on the medical field is something known worldwide that has helped with an abundance of discoveries, therefore helping lots of people. Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital, and had the cancerous…

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Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

Henrietta Lacks was a young black woman who began to experience pain after giving birth to her fourth child. She visited a doctor saying she had a “knot on her womb” and was referred to John Hopkins Hospital. John Hopkins hospital was the only hospital that treated black patients around that time. After her examination, Dr. Howard Jones confirmed that Henrietta Lacks had a purple lump on her cervix. Dr. Richard TeLinde and Dr. George Gey, were two of the best researchers at John Hopkins. Dr. Gey…

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Research Paper On Henrietta Lacks

Henrietta Lacks’ Reality made her become immortal. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is about an African American woman whose cancerous cells were stolen to change medicine. Henrietta lived during the jim crow era. As a minority, she has gone through so many more obstacles than others. She grew up on a farm with very little income and many people to care for. She had to become strong for her family and for herself. These obstacles made her emotionally strong enough to be calm at the moment she…

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Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

Henrietta Lacks, a woman known for liking to help others. She was the first person to be known to have immortal cells. Her cells were taken from her and used in many medicines and researches. They soon were sent around the world to scientist wanting to research them. The cells were able to create vaccines, perform new tests, helped cloning and launch the field of virology. Although Henrietta never knew about the use of her cells and her family found out years later, her family was more curious than…

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Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

Henrietta Lacks was born in Roanoke, Virginia, on August 1, 1920. Henrietta had eight siblings, and unfortunately his mother, Eliza Lacks Pleasant, died when she was giving birth to her tenth child. Johnny Pleasant, Henrietta's father did not have the patience to raising all children, He took the decision to return to Clover, Virginia where his family worked in the tobacco plantations. Johnny distributed his children with his family and Henrietta stayed with her grandfather Tommy Lacks. In her childhood…

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Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

Sarah Vyverberg Dr. Voss Biology Recitation 1190 4 March 2024 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: The Woman Behind Modern Science Loretta Pleasant, now widely known as Henrietta Lacks, was born in Roanoke, Virginia in 1920. She would later go on to live with her grandfather, Tom, in a house that used to be the slave quarters built by Henrietta’s white, slave-owning ancestors. She married her cousin, David Lacks, with whom she would have five children before dying of cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins…

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Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

Henrietta Lacks lived a short life and was limited by cancer in the last years of her life. As she was diagnosed with cancer, she was treated poorly and experimented on in ways that would now be considered inhumane. While she went through treatment to rid her body of cancer, she lacked the proper care due to the employees of the hospital being engulfed in the medical discoveries achieved through experimenting on her cancer cells. Henrietta’s cancer cells were undying, as they constantly reproduced…

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Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

save thousands. With this immensely impressive feat, one would instantly become a household name. But imagine after all of this, for years, your name and story would be virtually unquestioned and almost certainly unknown. This was the case for Henrietta Lacks, known only as HeLa for years following her…

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Henrietta Lacks Research Paper

average American. A prime example of this is HeLa cells. Henrietta Lacks was a Black woman born in Virginia in 1920. One day she went to the doctor because she felt a knot in her womb and soon after she learned that she had cancer. Henrietta went to John Hopkins Hospital because it was the only hospital that offered free segregated medical healthcare to blacks. The procurement of the cells is the biggest ethical factor in the equation. Henrietta went into the Hopkins hospital to get her first radium…

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